“Is there a cure for meningioma?”

If the radiographic diagnosis is correct, these tumor usually grow very slowly. A tumor that small can often be followed with MRIs to see how it will behave. Sometimes, small meningiomas can be treated with highly focused radiation (Gamma Knife Radiosurgery) as an outpatient treatment completed in one session. Often, that would prevent a possible future need for surgery to remove it. These cases however need to be evaluated thoroughly by a knowledgeable specialist who can review your scan and advise you appropriately.

Yes. The cure is complete removal. Sometimes that is possible, and sometimes it isn't if it has invaded structures that can not be removed without catastrophic consequences. If it is growing, or if it is causing a neurologic deficit, or it is causing seizures that can not be controlled with medicine, then it should be removed. Even if it can not be completely removed, the vast majority can be removed, and then it can be followed with imaging for several years and treated with radiation if it starts to grow back. If it grows after radiation, and gets big enough to cause problems again, it can be removed again. Almost all of my meningioma patients go the morning after surgery with an incision that is completely hidden by their hair. Most are back to work in a few days and nobody can tell they had surgery.

Fortunately, more than 90% of these are benign. However, they tend to grow larger over time and yours is fairly large. Most likely surgery would be recommended. Surgery often results in a cure and no other treatment is necessary except follow up. These can recur, however.

Yes there is a cure. 5x5x3 is actually somewhat large. You are absolutely correct that most meningiomas are benign in nature, but they can cause adverse consequences. Mainly they irritate the underlying brain and can cause swelling (edema) and possibly seizures. While typically slow growing they will eventually grow large enough without treatment that usually they will cause problems.
Cranial vertex is a favorable location as far as surgical removal goes. If it were me I would find a neurosurgeon I trust and let him/her surgically remove it. If it is successfully removed remember this can result in a cure! Few things in medicine can result in a total cure these days. Benign meningioma removal is one. Good luck!

If it is asymptomatic, I would follow it with CT or MRI.

A small meningioma of the dimensions you mention in your consultation IS not a surgical lesion. You must be followed periodically with serial MRIs beginning in 4 months. If it shows evidence of growth, then your first option will be radiosurgery and continued follow up.

Please address this question with your care team. Meningiomas can cause mass effects on other structures. Yes, the mass effect can cause health risks. These risks are compared to the risks of the proposed interventions. In general, the risks increase with larger tumors.

There's no cure for this tumor, but it can be controlled with radiation therapy and surgery.

Yes, it does pose a risk if it grows and becomes symptomatic. If so, then it may be cured with the complete removal of the mass.

Hi there.

For a meningioma, there is a cure, it is surgical; there is no medical cure. The two types of surgery are traditional surgery and radio surgery.
It seems your tumor is too big for radiosurgery.
Where are you located?

Thank you,

T

85% of meningiomas are benign. Others referred to as "atypical" or grade 2 have a higher chance of coming back. Malignant meningiomas are quite rare. A vertex meningioma has a higher chance of cure with surgery although the limiting factor may be how close to the midline it is since there is a large vein structure called the sagittal sinus along the midline. If the meningioma is up against this, it may not be possible to remove all the attachments since the sagittal sinus is important and must be preserved. Even when attachemnts cannot be completely removed, cauterizing attachements at surgery is a "second best" option.
Is your meningioma really 5x5x3mm not cm?
I don't think anyone in their right mind would suggest treating that if it is mm.
Overall options include observation with serial MRIs (always a choice but really the only reasonable one if that is in mm), surgery or radiosurgery. Radiosurgery is computer-guided radiation, usually in one session (sometimes 3-5) which is proven to work usually more by stopping growth with slight shrinkage, not disappearance. All these options should ber discussed in anyone with a meningioma. If it is tiny as described, observation is the only reasonable option. I usually use 3D MRI sequences for observation so that small changes in volume can be seen by computer matching way before radiologists see a change.... this with a view to discussing treatment as opposed to further observation. Again if tiny, even a small change should not prompt intervention.
Meningiomas cause symptoms isf they get large and affect adjacent brain or sometimes if irritation of adjacent brain lowers the threshhold for seizures. Otherwise no particular health risks.

Good news is meningiomas are benign, slow growing tumors that generally do not pose any health risks nor require surgical resection. There is a caveat to that of course. If they continue to grow they can get to a size that may compromise important local brain structures, cause swelling in the brain, or seizures. Most of these tumors, however, can grow your entire life and never get to that point. That is why serial screening with an MRI over many years is necessary. Convexity meningiomas, such as yours, are typically away from any important brain structures and are not an issue unless they grow significantly in a short period of time. Yours is extremely small (less than 1 cm) and is unlikely to cause you any harm. You still need to see your neurosurgeon to have screening MRIs performed until the tumor is shown to be stable. Yes, they are curative once completely resected, but most do not need to be.

Well, this is certainly a large tumor and it depends on exactly where it is, R or L, and whether it's close to a functional area of the brain, i.e., your speech or motor area and so on, whether there is any swelling around it and whether it's causing mass effects or not, is causing any seizures or not or any weakness, so many things have to be considered, location, symptoms and signs, and your age and overall health and your own wishes as to what you want done if you're not symptomatic. So in short, can it pose health risks? Yes, it can, and the most worrisome is seizures for the first time if you are driving, cooking, swimming or on a ladder, all these situations are very concerning and could pose a serious risk to you.